The USS Stockdale American warship, a guided missile destroyer Arleight Burke, docked this weekend in the port of Balboa, to the Pacific entrance of the Panama Canal, in a context of tension with Venezuela.
According to the US Embassy, the visit is part of the “solid collaboration in security” with Panama to combat drug trafficking and the so -called “foreign malignant influence.”
The USS Stockdale scale is not an isolated fact, the agency said EFE.
The Uss Stockdale is in Panama City! ⚓ This scheduled visit highlights the solid collaboration in security between the United States and Panama, working together to combat organized crime and foreign malignant influence. pic.twitter.com/clnelgocgu
– Us Embassy Panama (@usembpan) SEPTEMBER 20, 2025
It adds to the recent presence of the destroyers USS Sampson (September 10) and USS Lake Erie (August 29), all in transit through the isthmus as part of the cooperation in defense of the channel and the region.
In addition to the arrival of ships, Panama and the US UH-60 Black Hawk and Ch-47 Chinook, under a memorandum signed in April that authorizes more temporal and rotary military presence of US troops in the Central American country.
Regional context: Venezuela responds with a military operation
Washington’s naval activity occurs in parallel to Increased American military boats in the Caribbean, near the Venezuelan coastswhich Caracas interprets as a direct threat.
In that scenario, the Venezuelan Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino López announced on Sunday the activation of the “Cumanagoto 200” operation, which seeks to “clean” Sucre’s coastal state – in front of Trinidad and Tobago – of bands linked to drug trafficking, smuggling of fuel, weapons and trafficking in persons.
Godfather explained that 60 rapid reaction units (URRAS) will be deployed in the 15 municipalities of the area, with military real fire exercises that involve naval, aerial and terrestrial media.
Trump’s envoy says he still sees possibilities of an agreement “to avoid war” with Venezuela
